Poor performance in Maths gains Cabinet’s attention
Poor performance in Mathematics is being considered a matter of national urgency by Government. This was the declaration made when Cabinet met on Tuesday.
It was underscored that the daunting performance requires Government’s focused attention and commitment to finding adequate and appropriate solutions in the shortest possible time. Members of the Cabinet met Tuesday and deliberated “as a matter of extreme urgency and grave national importance,” the unsatisfactory results in Mathematics nationwide, at the 2016 Grade Six Examination. Senior officials from the Ministry of Education, including Minister Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine, were engaged by Cabinet to examine the declining performance of students in mathematics at this year’s Grade six assessment. For many years Guyana has consistently failed to achieve acceptable pass rates in mathematics, an important core subject. It must be noted that the previous approach to this problem has been inadequate. This year, for the first time, the Ministry of Education contracted the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) to conduct the examination for the Grade Six students in Guyana. The basis of assessment used by the Caribbean Examination Council was radically different from what was used previously by the Ministry of Education. What was observed was that this year there was an increased focus on reasoning and a decreased emphasis on retention. The new method to testing as implemented by CXC has exposed even more the weakness of the previous approach to education adopted by the Ministry of Education in previous years. As part of a plan for short and medium term measures, Cabinet called on the Ministry of Education and its technical advisors to identify all appropriate steps needed to remedy this situation. Those steps would include remedial training of teachers, better and more varied text books, more teaching aids and better use of technology in the delivery of education. When the 2016 NGSA results were released this year, Minister Roopnaraine disclosed that strategic collaborations between his Ministry and CXC are expected to improve the quality of all primary grade assessments.
(Kaieteurnews.com)